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NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports.
WADE GOODWYN, Host:
It was a gathering of moderates. Two former senators - David Boren from Oklahoma and Sam Nunn from Georgia hosted the panel. The two Democrats' purpose was to urge the presidential candidates from both parties to heed a call of bipartisanship. There was a sense of urgency rooted in the belief expressed by Senator Nunn that this country's well-being is diminishing.
SAM NUNN: National surveys reveal that an unprecedented seven out of ten citizens believe that life for their children will not be as good as their own. Approval for the United States around the world has dropped to historically low levels, with only one out of four people approving of our country's actions.
GOODWYN: Former U.S. Senator Jack Danforth, a Missouri Republican, was one of the many who spoke longingly of the way it used to be.
JACK DANFORTH: What has happened in American politics in recent years is that each of the two political parties has appealed to the base of the party, the true believers of the party.
GOODWYN: Republican consulted Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower, came the closest.
SUSAN EISENHOWER: Health care, baby boomers retiring, infrastructure - all of these are big ticket items. So the reason we need bipartisanship is it's going to require political courage to make choices. And what I'd like to see these candidates do is get up and tell us what their priorities are.
GOODWYN: Most of the national media probably would have ignored this feel-good exercise and bipartisanship if New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hadn't been one of the panelists. But Bloomberg's presence fueled interest because of speculation that he might run for president as an independent, using his multi- billion dollar fortune to do what fewer other independents ever could. Bloomberg recently renounced his membership in the Republican Party. But, as he has done in the past, yesterday he gave no indication that he actually intends to run.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: Look, I'm not a candidate, number one, I am a former businessman and a mayor. I think what has changed is that people have stopped working together. Government is dysfunctional. And, I think, lastly, there is no willingness to focus on big ideas. Congress and all of government seems to focus on the small things until the public gets so fed up that they then have to do something. And then invariably what comes out of it is a comprise like you saw in the energy bill.
GOODWYN: Wade Goodwyn, NPR News, Norman, Oklahoma.